1st Racing go F yourself

[PaceAdvantage]

Originally Posted by AskinHaskin

So now we've heard from HANA and its head cheerleader.


And we're supposed to be taking lessons when HANA cratered
well before any of this.

Hawthorne still won't come out and summarize its 2023 bloodbath resulting from the takeout cut.


Can't wait to see the daily Hawthorne touts on whatever remains of the HANA website.








And this line above couldn't be more inaccurate.


The entire reason California racing is on the fast track to oblivion is the tracks themselves.


Overlay the way horse racing is run across the continent (and especially at Stronach/1st headquarters) upon the greater society at large:

You'd have a scenario wherein copper thieves were in the advanced stages of rendering infrastructure like trains, traffic signals, websites and airports largely useless.

At 1st/Racing headquarters you'd have Belinda Stronach at the front door selling opportunities to the copper thieves (at $40K a whack, somebody reported here).


That is to point out what should have been glaringly obvious (to all but those with the HANA mentality), that horse racing itself is being entirely besieged by what are mere opportunists, each of whom were invited by the tracks themselves to help themselves to the innate value of all things horse racing.

Any middle school student should be able to recognize that if you are being besieged by opportunists who are milking you dry at 20-25% takeout, the very last move you'd want to make would be to lower the bar for the opportunists.

That is akin to government employees now leaving the doors to the copper wiring infrastructure open at night for the sole use and convenience of the opportunists.

The clueless perspectives put forth by others in this thread to this point are akin to people in Sacramento lobbying on behalf of the opportunists!!!


Pause to invoke the words of HANA's head cheerleader:







The rest of the society at large has no interest in participating in the shell game which Belinda Stronach and her ilk have created. Do you ever walk past a shell game and see anyone (aside from perhaps HANA cheerleaders) participating while simultaneously knowing that a shell game is ongoing there?

This has been the case since the very beginning of Stronach involvement with California racing. Rather than set racing on a proper course very early, as she should have done, Belinda Stronach and her ilk have instead decided to sell opportunities to the opportunists who are choking her out. The princely sums of immediate revenue from those sales akin to a near-term Band Aid to offset shortfalls which have been entirely a function of her own unending stupidity.


Now sadly such stupidity has had the disastrous effect of reducing on-site crowds to the unknowing and the unwitting while "B.S." simultaneously continues to do nothing to bolster any prayer those on-site participants have.


Anyone who passed middle school math classes should be able to ascertain that the number one move by race tracks in 2024 should be to do all in their power to bolster the diminished hopes of the on-track wagering crowds. Instead, of course, those tracks continue their long tradition of doing precisely zero for their customers while ostensibly promoting a racing product that has long been provided by the independent contractors in those barns over yonder.


As has been underscored time and again by multiple sources, racegoers in largest numbers "do not even know about takeout". Ergo they clearly DNGAF about takeout.

Takeout reductions only assist the opportunists who are and have been chewing racing to its core for decades along with every remaining HANA clown who hasn't scurried back beneath the rock from which he originated.

Race tracks must first reverse the effects of their own stupidity exacted upon the surrounding societies over decades before bothering with any future planning.

Hell, in the 1980's, the takeout/tax revenue gained by the state of California was upward of $100 Million a year. ($129M in 1983 to $131M in 1989).

A recent report cites the total track/associations' commission in the 2022/23 fiscal year as having been $104M. (that means the associations at SA, Dmr, Los Al, GG, and the fairs put together got $104M from the wagering dollar)

Just how much do you think goes to the state of California these days?


No wonder the state doesn't care at all that Santa Anita and all other race tracks are in the process of self-destructing beneath the weight of their own stupidity across decades of time. Why should state government care anymore?

So sayeth the Haskin impersonator who hasn't produced a single idea in almost a decade, other than, go back to the way things were in the 1950s wagering-wise...

Because THAT'S why the stands were full back then, right "Haskin???"

But keep criticizing everyone else...it's such an easy thing to do...you're like the guy on here who pretends he has a winning "use the tote-board only' method...all talk, with little proof to back up anything you say.

[thaskalos]

Is there some way to force AskinHaskin to finally divulge to us who these "opportuniists" are who are responsible for the destruction of horse racing as we once knew it?

[Jeff P]

Three posts from four years ago in the Death by 1000 paper cuts thread that are relevant to the current situation at Santa Anita:

Post #75 from page 5:
http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/s...=152130&page=5

Originally Posted by Jeff P

Several years ago I showed up at a CHRB Parimutuel Committee meeting and presented data to the CHRB that (in my opinion) showed an alarming trend:

California Exacta pools (with 22.68% takeout) were underperforming the Exacta pools of other racing jurisdictions with lower Exacta takeout.

California Exacta pools weren't just underperforming in terms of handle.

California Exacta pools were underperforming in terms of generating purses and revenue from handle.

After I presented my findings and had taken a seat, someone from upper management at The Stronach Group took the podium and announced to the room:

"The trend in Jeff's data is interesting. But I'm pretty sure it's a short term blip. Something that will eventually self correct and revert back to the mean."

Below is a screenshot showing pool totals for Santa Anita R1 today Fri 02-21-2020.

I've highlighted the WIN and EXACTA pools.

Note the differential between the two:

WIN 70,777
EXA 48,353

Before anybody jumps in and posts "What do you expect? It was a six horse field with a dominant favorite" --

Here are pool totals from today Fri 02-21-2020 at Aqueduct R1 where the exacta takeout is 18.50%:

WIN 86,131
EXA 120,380

Fyi, the Aqueduct race was a five horse field with a dominant favorite.

And no, this is not an isolated occurrence.

California Exacta pools (at 22.68% takeout) really are underperforming the national norm in terms of generating purse money and revenue from handle.

The annoying part to me is the trend was obvious about six weeks into their takeout hike back in 2011. They should have corrected it then.

But instead they insisted on the status quo and said things like "It's a five year plan. We have to give it time to work" and "I'm pretty sure it's a short term blip. Something that will eventually self correct and revert back to the mean."

Now here we are almost ten years later.

Imo, the trend (and the data over nearly a decade) couldn't be more clear.

Ignoring the data has cost California racing millions of dollars in lost revenue and purse money.

Maybe the time has come to revisit SB 1072 and California's 22.68% Exacta takeout.

If you think 22.68% Exacta takeout isn't death by 1000 paper cuts - think again.

Post #76 from page 6:
http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/s...=152130&page=6

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Jeff...may I please ask you a question? Is the CHRB under the impression that California Racing is on stable ground...financially speaking?

And post #77 from page 6:
http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/s...=152130&page=6

Originally Posted by Jeff P

I don't see how the CHRB could get the impression thoroughbred horse racing in California is on solid financial ground.

As long as I've been following (since about 2008 or so) if you attend the public CHRB meetings live, or listen to the meeting audio, or read the published meeting transcripts afterwards: You eventually realize many of the meetings play out the same way.

Prior to each of the meetings, the CHRB publishes a meeting agenda. Basically, this is a list of items of interest to be discussed (and sometimes decided) at the meeting.

During the actual meeting, each item on the agenda is called in turn.

Before the Commissioners of the CHRB discuss or vote on the current agenda item, the general public (anyone in attendance who wishes to speak) is given three minutes to comment on the current agenda item.

After the general public has finished giving their commentary, at that point, the Commissioners of the CHRB will then discuss and sometimes vote yea or nay on the current agenda item (whatever it happens to be.)

Sometimes while attending these meetings in person I have borne witness to what seems like a never ending parade of speakers who are bemoaning a cutback in dates or the closing of a brick and mortar otb, etc. as a result of falling handle and purse money.

A good example might be a union rep telling the Commissioners about parimutuel tellers who for the past several years have had full time work - but who are now facing cutbacks in hours (for some even layoffs) if the current agenda item (which might be a reduction in race dates) is approved.

For the same agenda item (which might be a reduction in race dates) there might be two or three members from track management who step up to the podium to tell the Commissioners we have to cut dates because we don't have the horses and handle and purse money that we used to.

I cannot for the life of me see how anybody at the CHRB could possibly sit through public meeting after public meeting, month after month, for years on end --

And witness a never ending parade of speakers - each bemoaning the fact that business is off - and come away with the idea that thoroughbred horse racing in California is on solid financial ground.

I just can't.

Compound the effect of underperforming exacta pools over 14 years since SB1072 was implemented. ✓

While telling everybody 'It's a short term blip.' ✓

And refusing to make a course correction. ✓

Now 'suddenly' there's a crisis. ✓




-jp

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